Despite his assurance that he had no business relationship with a New York-based real estate group that owns Naples property, Councilman Sam Saad’s law firm handled eviction cases for the group before and after he cast a deciding vote favoring one of their projects.

The legal work in at least five cases this year directly ties Saad to the Axonic Capital investment group that owns property in the city’s low-income River Park neighborhood.

His law firm's work for one of Axonic's River Park rental properties and several others outside the city came before and after the council voted 4-3 in May to approve Axonic’s contract to redevelop and sell a retail strip at Fifth Avenue North and Goodlette-Frank Road.

State law prohibits elected officials from voting on projects offered by a petitioner with whom the official has an ongoing business relationship, City Attorney Bob Pritt said.

Pritt would not comment directly on any conflict, but he said “people could claim” that Saad’s work before and after the vote indicates an ongoing business relationship.

“If there is an ongoing relationship at the time of the vote, then that could indicate there could be a violation,” he said.

To settle the question of whether Saad has a conflict under state law, a complaint would have to be filed with the Florida Commission on Ethics.

Saad, who has said he has no conflict, declined to discuss the legal work his firm has done for Axonic's properties.

“Do not contact me again,” he said in response to emailed questions.

The Naples Daily News reported in November that Saad, as chairman of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, pushed in 2013 to accelerate public improvements in the River Park area just as his longtime business partner began buying River Park properties as Axonic’s broker and property manager.

Saad said in an earlier interview that he asked Pritt about the potential conflict with Pikus before voting on Axonic’s project in May. But he didn’t tell Pritt about the legal work he has done for Axonic directly, including real-estate closings he did for the group in 2012.

He said in an October interview the business wasn't relevant.

“We don’t have a relationship,” he said. “To this day, we don’t have a relationship. That was four years ago.”

He didn’t mention that his firm at the time was retained in the case at the Axonic-owned Gordon River Apartments.

Four days before the interview when he said he had no relationship, his law firm appeared on behalf of Axonic to evict a Gordon River Apartments tenant, court records show.

Pikus previously said Saad has kept an arms-length relationship with Axonic.

“If you have one degree of separation, OK, maybe that’s something that should be considered,” Pikus said in October. “We really have two degrees of separation between Sam and Axonic.”

But David Lupo, the only other lawyer at Saad’s firm, handled Axonic legal work in the spring and this fall.

In the River Park case against a tenant of Gordon River Apartments, a Collier County judge ordered an eviction earlier this month after Lupo filed an amended complaint Nov. 14 and argued the case in a Dec. 1 hearing.

Lupo also handled three evictions earlier this year at the Berkshire Reserve apartment complex outside the city. The listed owner of the complex is Winifred Row LLC, but court filings show the property is actually owned by an Axonic real-estate investment fund.

In February, Saad’s firm handled an eviction at an Axonic property outside the city at 2875 Poinciana Drive. When asked about that case in October, Saad said he was aware of the work Lupo did on behalf of Saad's firm but didn’t know the property was owned by an Axonic investment fund.

“I knew that David was doing an eviction for Pikus,” Saad said in October. “I didn’t know that Axonic was the landlord.”

Saad said he handled real estate closings for Axonic in 2012 but had a falling out with Axonic’s portfolio manager, Jonathan Shechtman.

“I was going to be their attorney,” Saad said. “I got into a personal dispute with Shechtman and said, ‘I’ll have nothing to do with you people.' ”

Shechtman, based in New York, didn't return messages seeking comment.

Pikus said last week that Axonic and Saad's office don't directly interact and that his Pikus Property Management, the plaintiff in the eviction cases, is responsible for retaining legal help.

“It’s the property manager, not the owner, that engages an attorney to assist with evictions,” Pikus said. “To my knowledge, Axonic and Saad’s office have had no interaction for some time.”

But Axonic’s property-management contract with Pikus shows Axonic is responsible for choosing lawyers, while Pikus can consult with the lawyers on the group’s behalf in eviction cases.

“Pikus is authorized to consult with legal counsel, to be designated by (Axonic), to bring actions for eviction against (tenants); provided, however, Pikus shall keep (Axonic) informed of such actions and shall follow such instructions as (Axonic) may prescribe for the conduct of any such action,” states the 15-page contract dated Sept. 21, 2015.

Pikus called the contract a “standard form agreement” and said, “In practice, there is no interaction” between Axonic and Saad’s office.

“The reason they hire a property manager is so that they don’t have to deal with these types of issues,” Pikus said.

Vice-Mayor Linda Penniman said she was disappointed to learn of Saad’s recent work for Axonic.

“We have to have zero tolerance for this,” she said.

Penniman renewed her call for an independent board or magistrate to enforce the city’s ethics ordinances that govern conduct for public officials, including questions of conflicts of interest.

The council last month rejected her proposal to install a local ethics commission to rule on complaints.

“It is absolutely necessary that we have an enforceable code,” Penniman said. “It was necessary from the very beginning.”